with a hidden gift of helping 76% say the thing that makes them the most happy is helping others. face-to-face is better. 96% say it makes them feel happier they also say makes them feel healthier. they sleep better. i hope yo

♪ hope yo >> well, good morning to you. if you are not in the spirit already that will certainly do it for you. hope you are well. i am heather nauert. thank you for waking up with us today. >> i am ainsley earhardt. it is monday december 24th it is christmas eve. i hope you are in the spirit this morning. thank you for watching "fox & friends first". it is time for the top 5@5:00. a major winter storm which dump snow on the snoert earn california strengthening as it heads east nearly half of the nation from texas up to maine could see a white christmas this year. serious holiday headaches for travelers. >> over to serious news on a fox

news alert coming out of afghanistan this morning. american police advisor has been shot dead by an afghan police woman. the shooting happened outside of police headquarters in kabul, afghanistan. authorities are treating the incident as a poibls insider attack. we are told the shooter is in custody. the first time a female member of afghan security fors was behind an insider attack. marine veteran released from a mexican jail expect to do arrive home after spending some time in the hospital. john hammar and a dad were heading back home after he had to be taken to a hospital in louisiana. he was locked up for 4 months on charges of possessing an illegal antique gun he was trying to carry across the border that after customs agents told him he could take it across as long as

he registered it with the mexican government. >> former president george h.w. bush may not be in time hoement for christmas. >> the 14st president has been in the hospital since december 23rd for bronchitis related cough. >> senator daniel inouye, about 1,000 people attending that memorial service in hawaii including president obama an the first lady. senate majority leader harry reid paying tribute to the war hero. >> inouye said my biggest challenge is to convince myself on this day i did my best. i can't think of a single day during the 30 yearsive known senator inouye that he didn't do his best. >> senator inouye was 88 years old and second longest serving

senator in u.s. history. no deelt in sight an the fiscal cliff is less than a week away. they are arguing who is at fault for the disagreement. steve centanni is live with more. >> no agreement but plenty of talk. push for a plan b saying the ball is now in the democrat's court there has been no movement toward any kind of deal. republicans can't spending cuts and one key republican says what they need now is leadership. >> if you want leaders the president has been a pathetic fiscal leader. i would vote for revenues including tax hikes to keep the

country from becoming greece. i am not going to set aside the 1.2 trillion in cuts. >> the president spoke out about the dpfiscal cliff on friday focusing his goals on middle class tax cuts not some kind of bargains. his supporters should find it no surprise to any one he wants people above tacks. >> he won 60 percent of the voters stharp for it in the exit polls including some republicans. >> the focus shift to go the u.s. senate where few republicans are backing democratic plan to take some kind of actions before the deadline. >> they continue to give

opinions rick warren had an opinion. >> he said it is time to stop placing blame and start fixing things. listen to this. >> i think there's plenty of blame to go around. i would say this we need to stop blaming. you can't mix the problem while you were fixing the blame. i have trained leaders all over the world. one of the things i teach leadership is leaders accept the blame and give away the credit. >> every time you are blaming you are being blamed. i wish they would stop blaming and start fixing the problem. >> head over to stories you can bank on this morning. >> with lisess than 24-hours le i hope a lot of us show up today. it was a really dispinting sales

weekend. lauren simonetti joins us this weekend. hi there, lauren. not as many people shopping. >> it's not much of a merry christmas. it hasn't been a big year for going over the fiscal cliff and over the fiscal cliff. >> they did goefr the malls they didn't seem to be buying that is a big deal since the saturday before christmas also known ooze super saturday it's the biggest sales day of the year. there's anecdotal evidence this didn't hap person. discounts are running 2-3 hire thafrn usual. they also cut their forecast for 26 2k08 lars. a lot of parents want to hear about this the barbie not so hot this year. >> the tablet is the hot gift.

it makes mattel and has borrow nervous. they can do 40 percent of their over all business. >> norad always tracks santa he makes his way from the north poll at home. >> more than 50 years ago a newspaper advertisement misprinted santa's number. they were calling another rad by mistake. a nice man decided to play along. he followed santa's sleigh tral and the world. for the first time they have decided to switch from google maps to microsoft binge maps but as long as santa doesn't use powerful maps. >> we can still find it we go to where? >> you can go to google maps or norad's own tracking.

>> lauren simonetti from the fox business network merry christmas. >> it is 8 minutes after the hour. coming up it is his way to tune in. he is talking a possible senate run. >> stores are giving you 24 reasons to come in and shop. we will go live outside one of those stores that is staying open around the clock. first as we head to break let's look at the travel forecast for this christmas eve.

>> a reading from the gospel according to luke. the holy spirit will come upon you the child to be born will be called holy, the son of god. >> it is now 12 minutes after the top of the hour.

50 years lart the search is still on for a missing new jersey boy. police and the fbi releasing this new image of what william billy jones might look like today to help further in investigation. is this appearance playing outside in the snow with his sister in the front yard years ago. more people might be checking out of cash strapped california. could force many democrats to flee. families making over 250,000 a year can afford to pay more. it is expect to do hit $28 billion. as one-third of us travel this christmas season travelers are expected -- hope to have an easy trip to security. we are live in laguardia airport. i want to hear this one.

>> laguardia air force that is the good news. as we all know there could be a white christmas in our area. estimated 42 million people traveled by air during this holiday season. there are a couple of situations especially going through security you want to make sure you don't have the 3.4 ounces you check all of those things. i looked this up. you can bring fruit cake, turkeys not jam. if you want to bring jam you have to check that in your luggage. there is a storm possibly on the way. we could see a if you are flying out early to brand ma's house you are -- grandma's house you are in

luck. back to you hither and ainsley. good to know you can't carry on the jam. >> you can take the fruit cake. >> he has been rumored as president obama's topic for defense secretary. chuck hagel is drawing serious criticism from both sides of the aisle for his views on israel, iraq and also gay rights. republican senator lindsay graham and joe lieberman predict a top confirmation process. chuck schumer also stopped short of endorsing him. a minnesota man narrowly escaped a helicopter crash. the experienced pilot was landing in his son's backyard that's when the chopter malfunctioned hit a trailer and caught on fire. the son got out and helped his dad. he survived with only minor injuries. coming up next you have done

all of your shopping. you have done the wrapping and the entertaining and of course the cooking now it is time to treat yourself. where should you go after the christmas madness? we have ideas for you. >> we know there are trials and tribulations that the griswolds went tlau to deck the halls. meet one family that could make clark griswold jealous. with the spark cash card from capital one,

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>> good morning to you. we are 19 minutes past the hour.

we are down to the wire. it's the final day to run out and get the last minute christmas gifts. a lot of stores staying open all night long to help you check off your names on the list. antoine lewis is here in new york city. he joins us now with more. how are you doing today? >> heather, immigrate. how are you? >> what do you have out there? >> well, a lot of people making their way into this macy's in harold square. they have been open continuously through out the holiday. they are closing their door christmas ooe today at 6:00 in the evening one of many stores doing the same thicng. that has been the trend for the number of people who wait until the last minute. there's interesting information associated with this particular holiday. normally black friday is the busiest shopping day of the year. after that the saturday before christmas. financial analysts say this year it doesn't appear this will be anywhere near to what it has

been tin the past the saturday before christmas. a lot of people are still impacted by super storm sandy as well as the financial cliff crisis. then on top of that with regards to our area with what happened in connecticut. the trend showing a number of people are having lower spirits if you will and not idasked why they should be and should lead to increased spending. sales were down 4.3 percent. none the less that hasn't stopped people from coming into here. we have seen a number of people and talk to do people at macy's who said they risk business. we will let you know what the final numbers look like at the end of the week. >> maybe the good news in this is we are appreciating our families more this year. >> merry christmas to you. >> all right, heather, you, too. >> it is time to brew on this. here's what we would like to brew on today. hours to go until christmas are you done with your holiday shopping just yet? send them over your comments

shoot us an e-mail to fox friend first at foxnews.com. we will read the comments later in the show. you are almost done with your shopping. >> i am almost done. almost. >> i have to go to macy's now. right? >> thanks so much, heather. the holidays are stressful on everyone from shop to go wrapping cooking decorating. once all of the holidays are over to escape and get all of the stress out. the youngest person to visit every country. lee, good to see you. merry christmas. >> good to see you, too. >> where should we go if we want the sand and sun after the holidays. >> you can go to a lot of places. one of my favorite places to go is the four seasons in maui. it's just fantastic. it's like the epitome of luxury. right on the beach amazing pool. it has the place where the rich jet set go to hang out and hideaway from the paparazzi and whatnot. it's a great place. just there about a month or so

ago. fantastic. >> i have been there, too. i had to stay to another hotel. i did go to the spa there. >> i know people over there. let me know next time. >> okay, i will thank you. >> what about if you want to unwind if you want a spa vacation. >> they are great things obviously. one at the boca raton resort i will be there in march. i hear it's fantastic. they eentrecently redid their s made over in spain which is one of the nominees to the new 7 wonders of the world. look forward to going. they are supposed to have luxurious treatments. supposed to be awesome boca is a great place to go and chill out for a while. >> and warm after the holidays. >> if you want a cozy cold get away. >> i like to stay in the northeast. i am going to montrembl trem

plant. it's 25 minutes from montreal. you can take your snowmobile straight to your hotel. supposed to have world class skiing and other types of winter activities. if you don't like skiing you can sit in the hot tub and have hot chocolate. >> curl up with a blanket. if you want to pull out your passport what do you recommend? >> i am a huge fan of duck america. they hosted a cowl nature retown which is one of the best places to eat. they have the best meat in the world trust me on that one. wine in world class vineyards and tours by ducasso travel. they will take you and show you the ins and outs. >> if you want adventure, you want spice in your life where would you go? >> i love going to costa reek

co. i was just down there and the resort is running a special after the new year for surfing lessons. it is one of the best places and easiest places to learn. they have waves for every different skill group of learning. you can hang on the beach eat tropical fruit. >> i hear you can get a lot of deals. >> from new york you can fly for 3 or $400 to the new airport and from there you can choose a resort whether it's echo resort or on the beach. >> for any one who wants to book a trip when is the cheapest time to book? >> right after new years is a great time to go. right now between christmas and new years is one of the busiest times of the year. after the new year you can geetd deals. any time in the off sen between now and spring is a great time to go. get on it. >> if you are trying to become the next level if you are a member of the silver medallion

you have to do it by the end of the year. >> i was out with a buddy of mine he was flying to london tomorrow and coming back the next day to requalify. he doesn't have to wait in line at the airport. >> i want your life. going off on all of these trips. good to see you. merry christmas. 25 after the top of the hour. christmas is all about seeing friends and family. there is one guest almost everyone dreads seeing. wait until you hear who it is. lance armstrong may be doing more giving than getting this christmas. he may have to pay millions. this day in history back in 1818 the first performance of silent night took place in the church of saint nicholas in austria. ♪ ♪

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i played a round of golf.id in the last five hours? then i read a book while teaching myself how to play guitar; ran ten miles while knitting myself a sweater; jumped out of a plane. finally, i became a ping pong master while recording my debut album. how you ask? with 5-hour energy. i get hours of energy now -- no crash later. wait to see the next five hours. ♪ >> hope you are off to a great day. what a beautiful animation. we now have your shot of the morning. christmas eve edition. check out some of our favorite houses right here with the craziest christmas lights we can

find. here is one in richmond, virgin virginia. how about that? >> they look like ginger bred houses. they don't even look real. >> how do you get in the front door of this house in red wood city california. the owners went all out turning their yard into a glowing nativity scene. >> you wonder how did they get in there. >> it looks out of place compared to the neighbors. looks a little dark next year. can you image the electric bill? >> welcome back. >> they are beautiful homes. welcome back to "fox & friends first". it is half past the hour we have serious news to bring you now. it is time for your 5@5:30 the top five stories making news at this hour. we begin with a fox news alert. an update to a story we told you about earlier this morning. nato is confirming to fox news a civilian u.s. contractor was shot dead by afghan police woman

in kabul, afghanistan. we are told that that shooter is now in custody. it happened outside police headquarters in kabul. authorities are treating the incident as a possible insider attack. 52 members of nato forces have been killed this year alone in what is called green on blue attacks. a civilian contractor working for nato. look at this house you remember it you have seen it i am sure. this is the new jersey home became an iconic symbol of the devastation left by hurricane sandy. dozens watched as the 150-year-old home had to be torn down. he live there had for about 6 months. he tried to raise enough money to save it but in the end it had to come down. he told fox and friends at first it was hard seeing his home as a symbol of the storm. >> all of our possessions were in there and everything like that. it's just to see it over and over again. every time it hits us in the

face it's a reminder that all of our stuff is gone. >> john says the image of his home helped bring aids and attention to the devastated town. >> back in 2004 the disgraced cyclist sued britain sunday times for liable when the paper printed claims in a book he took form man's enhancing drugs. he received a 484,000 dollar settlement and now that the u.s. anti doping agency did indeed lead a massive cheating program the newspaper now wants it's money back. >> from hollywood to capitol hill ben affleck refusing to rule anything out he says when asked if he was thinking about running for senate in massachusetts. >> one never knows. i am not one to get into conjecture. i do have a great fondness and admiration for the political

process. biggs deal for me to come down here and be on your show. i am not going to get into speculation about my political future. >> there will be an open senate seat in massachusetts if john kerry is confirmed adds secretary of state. >> no doubt the griswold family. look at this. >> mark? >> dad? >> mark. >> we will meet the real life griswolds. they are helping make everyone's christmas a little bit better in gainesville florida. the christmas display has about 12,000 lights. it means an extra $40 on the monthly utility bill. it is well worth it he says>> i love christmas. such a beautiful season. >> time is running out for lawmakers in capitol hill. more than a week to go before

the country heads over the fiscal cliff. >> later it week the sun naet takes the lead. after house speaker john bha another pulled off plan b saying the ball is in the democrat's court. they will have to take the bill up. some are saying the president doesn't real wlant to avoid the fiscal cliff. >> when i listen to the president i think the president is eager to go over the cliff for political purpose. he sees a victory at the end. gets programs he gets to cut the military which democrats have been calling for for years and gets to blame republicans for it. >> president obama is optimistic a deal can still be reached but at the same time he acknowledged there might not be time so he

scaled back his goals to focus on the middle class tax cut and extended benefits. a democrat said yesterday a larger deal would not be all that hard to reach. >> what we ought to do is take speaker boehner's last offer the president's last offer and split the difference. that would be a package of $2.6 trillion. you couple that with the 1.1 trillion that has been done that would be close to the 4 trillion to stabilize the debt and begin to bring it down. and if no action is taken by the end of the year taxes go up for everyone. 2 million people lose unemployment benefits and automatic spending cuts could kick in. >> have a great christmas eve. >> oo it is time to entertain this. bethany frankel and herp husband of two years announced they are calling it quits. frankel and jason hopy say they

are separating. they have a 2-year-old daughter. the hobbit staying put as number one in the box office taking in $36.7 million. jack richard debuted in second place. opening at number 3 with 12 million was this is 40. >> unleashing star power at the box office. tomorrow viewers can be among the first to see the family comedy. >> we tried to introduce a little sugar but it was like going off the rails of a crazy train. >> what did you do? >> given slivers. >> they go a little nuts with all of the sugar. >> billy crystal and bette midler as grandparents who were forced to go with grand kids they are taking care of.

♪ >> folks anticipating the big screen adaptation of the musical laelesmis. >> the top stories this morning the seahawks crushing the 49ers. 42-13 to clinch a playoff spot. richard sherman returning a blocked field goal for a 90 yard touchdown. seattle wins the nfc west. arizona beat the 49ers. >> it will be winner takes all for the nfc east. rg 3 returning for the redskins washington beat the eagles 27-20. >> cowboys lost to the saints 34-31. dallas can still win the division if it beats washington. the giants the ravens routing the super bowl champs 33-14.

big blue on the verge of missing the playoffs. >> christmas came a little early for cardinals fans. giving his blov to a young fan in the stands. the boy can't contain his excitement as you can see. he beat arizona 28-13. >> it is 38 minutes after the top of the hour. if you shop on-line it doesn't matter where you are but it turns out that's not the case apparently. the research shows your zip code can effect the price you are paying. >> we will talk about that. the royal couple breaking tradition and doing something unprecedented this christmas. we will tell but their plan. first as we head to break let's take a lack at your travel forecast around the country. hey, look! a shooting star!

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♪ hah

>> good morning to you. it is christmas eve. let's span the globe to see what stories are making headlines overseas. first let's go to bethlehem. it takes the name from the manger where jesus is said to have been born. prince william and kate will spend the day at kate's parent's home instead of the queen's estate. always do what the wife wants to do. ainsley, what do you have for

us? >> thank you so much heather. shopping on-line might be convenience but it might come as a cost. web sites could be charging you more based on your personal information. diane mass is heed dau from the fox business network is here to explain all of this. a wall street journal investigation uncovered several web sites have been using information they have been able to clean glean from users. financial services and rosetta stone inc. have different products on a range of characteristics they can cover. it uses customer's browsing history and geo location to have the offers and products. it displays businesses. it is hard to tell what factors effect those changes. for companies with brick and mortar locations they are what prices are at your local store and how close you are to a

competitor. they have products or wording based on how good they think the credit is. some give discounts exclusively for users on mobile devices. they are minimmicking what othe do local demand competition and so on. university of pennsylvania study shows 76 percent of american adults said it would bother them to find out other people paid a lower price for the same product. lucky for the stores the journal says chances are you won't find out because despite acting on the fly there's little way for shoppers to see. >> so talented. beautiful boy. >> thank you so much, guys. merry christmas. >> merry christmas to you, too. >> 15 now. it just changed. holiday classic that was filmed in the middle of the summer. how did they create christmas in july for "it's a wonderful

life." >> if you still da know what you are going to make for christmas dinner we have the master butcher in fairway market. he has the gifts this will wow your guests and won't cost you a fortune. >> are you anchoring this morning? >> i am. you bert share some of those lamb chops. coming up on "fox & friends" it is christmas eve and there is wicked weather and where you should expect a white christmas. donald trump will join us radio talk show host layer realed der is here and country music star is here with a special live performance. all of this at the top of the hour. what starts with adding a friend... ♪ ...could end with adding a close friend. the lexus december to remember sales event is on. this is the pursuit of perfection.

>> 11 minutes to the top of the hour. a world war ii airman finally

coming home 66 years after his death. his remains will be flown to philadelphia today he died in 1946 when his plane crashed into the mountains. it took decades to identify his remains. the christmas classic it is a wonderful life it was shot in the middle of july. how did they create that white christmas? newly released photos reveal their he used sugar and water and sprijed the fake flakes all over the set. >> if you don't know what you are going to make for christmas dinner we have the master butcher ray venecia he's showing us how to make a crowned pork roast. easy to make and it won't break the bank. we are talking about pork this

morning. why pork why not something else? >> economic meets the rich. it has more flavor than the other meats. today it's leaner than it has always been. >> pork is like 2.50 a pound where if you are making a fillet or something it's like $21. >> it's a big difference and it goes well with everything. >> we have to take two center cut pork roasts. take your regular center cut roast. take your knife make a line across where the meat ends. come across all of the bones. call it scoring it right to the end. >> why? >> because we are going to beal it off. pull away and shrimp it down. turn it up on its tyne no different than the jack-o-lantern. you are going to strap down the bone of the meet. pull back and come right off. >> you are taking off the excess

meat. >> this is the flavorful stuff. >> it is great to rin der down. it is wonderful. with -- or to use in your frying pans to add a flaifrl. >> let me ask you this. a lot of people don't want to head out to the grocery store today may not have a lot of inventory at the store how available is this? >> common everyday item holiday or not. >> it will still in in the store. >> we are going to put it side by side. line them up. >> you buy two of them. >> two pieces. then you take a potato peeler. you take about a half inch. a line right threw so the point comes out. >> through the whole thing? >> through the other side. >> you are attaching the two pieces. take the knife output the photo

pearl in. you take a piece of string. i suggest you put a little scotch tape oentd because it will make your hands greasy. you pull the potato pearl back out one end of the string. you are going to tie a regular double not. >> then another piece on the top. top two bones. >> i want to get to all of the other stuff. >> telling you hurry it up. >> i understand then after you tie the top two bones with the same piece of string you roll it up on the chime what you pull it together will you get that wonderful crown. >> how do we season this? >> a little salt.

and pepper. when you serve it you put it all together you don't need a lot of meat. the presentation is the awe moment at the table. >> how long are we tooking this? >> 15 minutes a pound at 375. >> this is five pounds here? >> this is 5-6 pounds. >> 15 minutes per pound. >> yes. the thing i love about it you can order it by chop not by pound. 10 people chop and a half, 15 chops. >> probably a couple chops per person. >> one chopper person is usually about the norm maybe a chop and a half to 2 for a man. thank you so much from fairway markets we have your christmas dinner set for you. >> it is 8 minutes before the hour. christmas is all about family and friends but there is one guest almost everyone dreads. it is the last chance to answer the question of the day. with less than 24-hours to go we want to know this, have you finished your christmas shopping

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>> three minutes until the top of the hour. we look at good, bad and ugwe'll start out with the good. starting with the beautiful christmas display in detroit. he lost his legs. but he climbed the ladders and strupping the lights so he could have the only light display on his block. who is the most dreaded christmas guest. it is the mother-in-law . but the father-in-law is not too far behind either. one los angeles parking enforcer on the naughty les. he slapped a parking ticket on

santa's dislay . the man dressed like mr. clause tried to get out of the fine. but the parking enforcer was not feeling the spirit. >> not nice. it is time now for your response. earlier in the show we told you about stores staying open for the around the clock for the last minute shoppers. >> we wanted to know if you are done with the holiday shopping. james responded. i got my holiday shopping done in november and december so i can avoid the rush. first time ever on christmas eve, i have not finished my shopping . >> justin said my wife and i were 99 percent done three weeks before thank thank. thanks to everyone that responded. morey christmas to you and your family. we hope you ren joytonight on